Facing the Meta: Burning Abyss



The ‘Burning Abyss’ is a TCG exclusive archetype that is based on Inferno, the first part of the poem Divine Comedy. The Main Deck monsters are based on members of Malebranche, who guard Malebolge - but this isn’t really important. What’s important is that if we assume that the archetype will have twelve Malebranche like the poem, it means we will have 2 more ‘additional(!)’ support in future sets as we have 10 Malebranche monsters so far with the new support leaked(if we assume the new support, Netherlord as one).


Playstyle:

Now all the Burning Abyss monsters, we will ignore the LV 6 ritual for now, are Lv 3 Dark Fiend monsters with the shared effects of:
Being destroyed if the player controls a monster other than a "Burning Abyss" monster
Can be Special Summoned from the hand if the player controls no Spell/Trap Cards
A third ability that is triggered if sent to the graveyard; milling included.
Now the monsters can only use the effect of 2) and 3) once per turn. So if you Special summoned it from your hand with its effect, it won’t trigger its other effect when sent to the graveyard. Burning Abyss decks use Tour Guide of the Underworld to summon monsters from your deck (and as it is negated, it’s 1) effect won’t activate) in order to overlay into Rank 3 monsters.



This is pretty much what Burning Abyss decks are about, swarming into making quick Rank 3 Xyz monsters while maintaining the players hand and field advantage via milling. This deck is similar to ‘Lightsworns’ in the sense it focuses on getting monsters into the grave for its effects, however, the milling is much more controllable. The main monsters in a Burning Abyss deck are:

Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

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If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card. You can only use 1 of the following effects of "Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" per turn, and only once that turn.
● If you control no Spell/Trap Cards: You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
● If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Burning Abyss" monster from your Deck, except "Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss"

Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

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If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card. You can only use 1 of the following effects of "Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" per turn, and only once that turn.
● If you control no Spell/Trap Cards: You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
● During the End Phase, if this card was sent to the Graveyard this turn: You can add 1 Level 3 DARK Fiend-Type monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss".

Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

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If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card. You can only use 1 of the following effects of "Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" per turn, and only once that turn.
● If you control no Spell/Trap Cards: You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
● If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Burning Abyss" monster in your Graveyard, except "Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss"; Special Summon it.

Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss

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2 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card and choose a number from 1 to 3, then send that many cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard; until the end of this turn, this card gains 500 ATK for each card sent to the Graveyard this way. If this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Burning Abyss" card in your Graveyard, except this card; add it to your hand.

Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss

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1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
You can only control 1 "Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss". Once per turn: You can discard 1 "Burning Abyss" card, then target 1 card your opponent controls or in their Graveyard; shuffle it into the Deck. If this card on the field is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of "Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss" once per turn
Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss
Send 2 Face-up “Burning Abyss” monsters you control to the graveyard, then target up to 3 cards on the field; destroy those targets.

Weakness:

The main issue with Burning Abyss decks is the lack of a strong win condition. You can spam all the Dante’s you want in order to gain hand and field advantage, but it doesn’t really allow BA users to really deal with threats (over 2500 attack/defense) on the opponent’s field. In order to deal with such issues most BA decks run 2/3 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and maybe even 2 Karma Cut/Caius the Shadow Monarch. Another tech some BA decks run is Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force; this gives them access to Constellar Pleides.

Siding:

Siding against Burning Abyss is quite simple, but given the speed of the deck and it’s OTK potential, I would run multiple copies rather than the 1/2 card sided in.

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Trap Stun/Royal Decrees/Jinzo

If you stop Burning Abyss from access to their Traps, all they can do is either hope for a BLS or go for a desperate play with Acid Golem.

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Vanity’s Fiend/Majesty’s Fiend

The two fiends hurts nearly every deck in the Meta at the moment (nearly), an early Majesty’s Fiend will limit the opponent using BA to rely on the Traps they’ll draw.

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Stygian Dirge

Oh you want to summon Rank 3s? I think Rank 2's are much better

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Chain Disappearance

Graff/Tour Guide/Rubic/Scarm are targets for this.

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Vanity’s Emptiness/Maxx C

Stop them from Special Summoning and watch them sit back on a 2000/2100 defense monster while you make plays. Or give them the choice of giving up on setting up their field or giving you 3+ cards.

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Macro Cosmos/Banisher of Radiance/Dimensional Fissure

Similar to Lightsworn, if Burning Abyss can’t have access to their grave, they lose all of their effects. They can still Rank 3 spams, but they won’t be gaining advantages by doing so.

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Caius the Mega Monarch/Karma Cut

These two are mainly for Mirror matches, but nothing is more satisfying that popping a Mega Caius on your opponent’s Cir/Graff/Scarm.

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Ojama Trio

My personal favorite when trolling (heh), activate Ojama Trio and then watch them do nothing (seriously they do nothing).

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Leo, the Keeper of the Sacred Tree

If you have access to Synchros, and you get this card out early, BA will have to rely on Raigeki to get over you. Just don’t go into Main Phase 2 if you did get this out.

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Rivalry of Warlords

No access to Extra deck, as the only fiend XYZ people generally use in BA is Temtempo. Either way limits Dante and others.

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Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

Probably the most efficient, stop all of their effects, they can still use Dante though.

That’s about it really, Burning Abyss is quite the explosive deck, but I dislike it due to its unpredictability that comes with any deck involving milling. However, we’ll have to see how the new support changes the deck. The next one will be on Qliphorts, have fun dueling!

-Decato-